It
is with heavy heart that we bring you news of the passing of Carl
Langley, a cherished columnist and good friend. Carl passed away on
Friday, March 25, 2011, at his home after an extended and brave battle
with cancer. He was 78. He had a distinguished career as an editor,
reporter, columnist, and author. Carl joined Edgefield Daily as a
columnist in December of 2006 and continued his writing until May of
2010 when his health declined.

Carl
Langley's book, "Parting Shots - Never Judge a Book by its Cover" is
now
available for purchase.The
book
is
available
at Aiken Office Supply, the Aiken Standard, Ingate
Pharmacy, Aiken Drug, Artist Parlor, Gene's discount clothing, and the
T-Shirt Shoppe or you may e-mail your requests to: carllang@bellsouth.net

Proceeds from
the book support Molly's
Militia, a North Augusta-based kitten and puppy rescue service.

Current
political leaders "Nut jobs"By
Carl Langley
web
posted May 21, 2010GUEST COLUMN – If you are wondering just
how bad it has gotten in this country when it comes to fixing blame for
outrageous acts, then I hope you heard some of the inane, absolutely
stupid comments made by people you would expect to know better.EdgefieldDaily.com

Voters’
wrath sends a message to the DemocratsBy
Carl Langley
web
posted January 22, 2010EDGEFIELD – Martha Coakley said one of her
biggest concerns after winning the U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts
would be dealing with the weekly commute to Washington as she tries to
balance public service with her housewifely duties. Well, the good news
is she doesn’t have to worry about that anymore
after being routed by Republican senatorial candidate Scott Brown in
the special election to fill the seat once held by Ted Kennedy.EdgefieldDaily.com

The Dawn
of Mankind in Relative TermsBy
Carl Langley
web
posted December 9, 2009GUEST COLUMN – Humans originally existed
as members of small bands of nomadic hunters and gatherers. They lived
on deer in the mountains during the summer and would drift down to the
seaside in the winter and live on fish, crabs and lobsters.EdgefieldDaily.com

The Twain
Award Goes to an Illinois IdiotBy
Carl Langley
web
posted November 30, 2009GUEST COLUMN – Each time some liberal
speaks I recall the sage wit of master American storyteller Mark Twain.
It was Twain who warned, “It is better to remain silent and be thought
a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.” The newest
holder of the Twain award is Illinois U.S. Sen. Richard
(Dustbin) Durbin, a rather muddled soul who once remarked on the floor
of the Senate that American soldiers were murderers. EdgefieldDaily.com

General
Puts His Foot in His MouthBy
Carl Langley
web
posted November 12, 2009EDGEFIELD – In the awful aftermath of the
shooting deaths of 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex., by a Muslim serving as
a major in the U.S. Army, I was shocked at the words of the Army’s top
general, George Casey. Gen. Casey’s words, in which he declared that
the shootings would not
deter the military on its path to diversity, would have been better
left unsaid. He should have spent his face time on television deploring
the act of a mad man.EdgefieldDaily.com

Give them
an FBy
Carl Langley
web
posted October 15, 2009GUEST COLUMN – The year is almost over,
but I have been gifted with my 2009 nominees for the stupidest people
on the planet. The certain winners are the members of the Christina
(Delaware)
School Board, who ordered a 45-day sentence to an alternative school
for a first grader. Poor little Zachary Christie, the target of the
school board's
wrath, committed the "dastardly crime" of bringing to his elementary
school a small utility tool given to Cub Scouts. EdgefieldDaily.com

Doomsday
in DenmarkBy
Carl Langley
web
posted October 9, 2009GUEST COLUMN – Holy Shazam, Batman, did
you see what just happened to SuperObama? said Robin, unable to believe
his eyes. On the craggy, rock-girded cliffs of the Danish isle,
our modern day version of Superman ran headlong into an international
version of kryptonite.Barack Obama, our president and our media
darling, used up five luxury class jets and more than $1 million
dollars in flight costs in his vain effort to sell Chicago to the
nations of the world.EdgefieldDaily.com

The Left
CoastBy
Carl Langley
web
posted September 21, 2009GUEST COLUMN – Just when you think it
can't get any crazier out on America's West Coast, along comes the tale
of Phillip Paul. Paul, a state inmate now on the lam, has been judged
by judicial authorities in the state of Washington as mentally deranged
and criminally inclined.EdgefieldDaily.com

Harold
Royce Gross: a true patriot and AmericanBy
Carl Langley
web
posted July 6, 2009GUEST COLUMN – With Barack Obama and his
fellow Democrats off and running on the wildest spending sprees ever
seen in the supposedly civilized world, it’s left to us seniors to
recall the days of Harold Royce Gross, a country boy and World War I
soldier from Iowa who served in the U.S. Congress for a quarter of a
century.EdgefieldDaily.com

State
Focusing on Helping RetireesBy
Carl Langley
web
posted April 6, 2009GUEST COLUMN – Millions of the nation’s
baby boomers (those born in the five-year period after the end of World
War II) are retiring each month, and thousands are turning South
Carolina into a retirement haven.EdgefieldDaily.com

Let’s Talk
the Rats Out of the HouseBy
Carl Langley
web
posted March 26, 2009GUEST COLUMN – Let us take up this morning
what may become one of the burning issues of our time. In brief, do
chickens have the right to bring a class action lawsuit against the
Kentucky Fried Chicken chain? Can pigs sue the snouts off of those so
brazen as to cook barbecue?EdgefieldDaily.com

Democrats
Are Failing History of EconomicsBy
Carl Langley
web
posted February 14, 2009GUEST COLUMN – In response to the
pork-laden stimulus legislation hatched by the Democrat majority in the
Congress it’s time to recall the words of an economics professor at the
University of South Carolina more than 50 years ago.EdgefieldDaily.com

Mike
Malloy: a preacher of hateBy
Carl Langley
web
posted February 2, 2009GUEST COLUMN – Several years ago I made an
investment in satellite radio, following in the footsteps of a friend
who told me about the joys of listening to a service that offered a
wide range of listening options. I became a Sirius subscriber after
learning the system carried more
than 100 channels, including among them stations that feature music
from the 1940s and 1950s decades - the happy, carefree days of my youth.EdgefieldDaily.com

Save the
JewsBy
Carl Langley
web
posted January 17, 2009GUEST COLUMN – The effeminate dilettantes
of the United Nations have taken time off from their boring wine and
cheese receptions, endless state dinners and show-and-tell lecture
meetings to pass another resolution ordering the Israelis to cease and
desist from fighting for their survival as both a people and a nation.
In other words, shut up and die.EdgefieldDaily.com

Obama's
National Security ForceBy
Carl Langley
web
posted November 12, 2008GUEST COLUMN – First, let me congratulate
Barack Obama for winning the 2008 presidential election, thanks to a
well-oiled machine that went into full attack mode nearly two years
ago. Second, let me chastise John McCain for running the most inept
political campaign in history, one dragged down the incompetents he
surrounded himself with and who are now busy trying to lay the blame
for their stupidity on poor Sarah Palin.EdgefieldDaily.com

History’s
Lessons Are Being IgnoredBy
Carl Langley
web
posted October 30, 2008GUEST COLUMN – During my sophomore year at
the University of South Carolina ages ago I had the good fortune of
landing in a political science class taught by the dean of the PS
department Dr. Raymond Sherrill. He was one of the greatest teachers I
ever had.EdgefieldDaily.com

Big Media
Has Betrayed Honest JournalismBy
Carl Langley
web
posted October 25, 2008GUEST COLUMN – I received an e-mail a
couple of days ago from a retired newspaperman I had the joy of working
with years ago. Ken Boswell was a fine reporter but he gave up the
business to take a job with a county government in Georgia. In his
e-mail to me he expressed the depression that has overtaken him
during the current presidential race, the quadrennial political
struggle is an American hallmark, but now a contest in which Ken’s
believes our once proud profession has lost its soul.EdgefieldDaily.com

Sammie
Finds a HomeBy
Carl Langley
web
posted October 17, 2008GUEST COLUMN – A few weeks back I was
walking to my car in the parking lot at this newspaper when a black dog
struggled to her feet. She had been resting in the shade of an oak tree
in the center of the parking lot.EdgefieldDaily.com

ACORN
ruled the day and ruined us allBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted October 7, 2008GUEST COLUMN – If the situation was not so
deplorable, the incompetents standing before the cameras looking like
deer caught in the headlights would be laughable. But this was deadly
serious business and our professional politicians were doing what they
have always done best - blame everything on the opposition.EdgefieldDaily.com

Spring Was
Breaking Out All OverBy
Carl Langley
web
posted September 22, 2008GUEST COLUMN – Fifty Aprils have long
since
disappeared from the calendar, but I can still recall spring breaking
out all over on a beautiful Sunday morning in Aiken’s historic
district. On this glorious day trees and shrubbery were busy putting on
their
coats of green, the early flowers were forming in carefully cared for
nooks and crannies on lawns along Colleton Avenue and York Street.EdgefieldDaily.com

Predicting
a Riot Is a Foolish ProclamationBy
Carl Langley
web
posted September 5, 2008GUEST COLUMN – Fatimah Ali is a black
female who poses as a columnist for the left leaning Philadelphia Daily
News, a newspaper so intimidated by that city's majority black
population that it takes the racist side to everything. So much for
objectivity in the news business in one of America's signature cities.
But, then again, what goes down in Philadelphia goes down in other
major American cities.EdgefieldDaily.com

Some
Questions About the messiahBy
Carl Langley
web
posted August 22, 2008GUEST COLUMN – It is time for some
commentary that will serve as a guide for those of you who will be
heading out to vote in November. So, I draw your attention to Barack
Obama, a mystery nominee for the nation’s highest office if there ever
was one. EdgefieldDaily.com

A Dark Act
Proves Happiness Is RelativeBy
Carl Langley
web
posted August 4, 2008GUEST COLUMN – Don and Jimmy were
acquaintances of my childhood, although we grew up in settings as
different as day and night. Don was the only boy in a family that
enjoyed the prestige money can
bring. The family’s wealth was an accumulation of generations, and
money, however wisely or unwisely used, buys a lot of respect.EdgefieldDaily.com

Marine
Survives Iraq, Dies at the Hands of Street RatsBy:
Columnist Carl Langley
web
posted July 21, 2008GUEST COLUMN – Robert Crutchfield’s aunt
and other family members say that the young Cleveland, Ohio, Marine had
long held dreams of being a member of America’s most fabled fighting
force. The young man who had just started his journey on the American
dream only lived long enough to serve with distinction as a member of a
Marine battle unit in Iraq. After more than a year spent surviving
enemy firepower, he came home and died at the hands of two of the army
of street thugs that prowl our nation’s major cities.EdgefieldDaily.com

Dickie
Scruggs is Heading for JailBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted June 30, 2008GUEST COLUMN – The good news is
Mississippi trial lawyer Richard (Dickie) Scruggs is going to jail. The
bad news is that his jail sentence isn’t long enough, considering the
damage he did to the American court system. Scruggs, who piled up
hundreds of millions of dollars while winning
lawsuits against the tobacco, asbestos and insurance industries, will
be looking at life from behind prison walls after pleading guilty to
trying to bribe a Mississippi trial court judge.EdgefieldDaily.com

Democrats
Show Their Lack of Common SenseBy:
Carl Langleyweb
posted June 16, 2008GUEST COLUMN – It’s bad enough that the
liberal Democrats now have Americans by the throat in both House and
Senate, but it’s worse when you consider the fact that their numbers
likely will be increased after the November elections. Playing to the
fears of the American people, rightfully so when you
consider the dismal performance of George W. Bush as president, the
Democrats are putting themselves in position to wreck what is left of
the economy.EdgefieldDaily.com

Mars Trip
Opens Up the Sky to AllBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted May 27, 2008GUEST COLUMN – The good news is that
America's Phoenix space ship made a great landing on Mars on Memorial
Day. This is a great testament to American technology and the reason
this nation, equipped with the finest minds in the universe, leads the
world in just about everything.EdgefieldDaily.com

Langley:
United Nations to investigate the US for racismBy
Carl Langley
Guest Columnist
web
posted May 19, 2008GUEST COLUMN – The United Nations, long a haven for the
planet’s worst criminals, including liars, thieves and sex offenders,
is back at it again, and again the United States is the target of its
arrogance and pomposity. The Reuters news agency, always willing and
able to circulate any information derogatory to our country, reports
that the UN is sending one of its own to investigate racism in America.EdgefieldDaily.com

Augusta
Sheriff Wins Again in Legal Battle with RadicalBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted April 30, 2008GUEST COLUMN – The Georgia Court of
Appeals has handed down a decision that even the most incompetent of
lawyers can understand. The court, in an announcement made public
Tuesday, upheld a ruling by an Augusta judge who ordered an Aiken radio
station owner and a loud mouth, brainless talk show host to fork over
more than $6 million for slandering Richmond County Sheriff Ronnie
Strength.EdgefieldDaily.com

Celebrating
a
Hero’s
Special
FlagBy:
Carl Langley (Photo)
web
posted April 21, 2008GEUST COLUMN – I was invited to a flag
raising on Patriots Day, and this was one ceremony it would have been a
shame to miss. I learned about the beauty of the human spirit and the
endurance of loving memories. It was on this special, refreshing day
that I found myself surrounded with love and remembrance in abundance,
and with so many people who love their country.EdgefieldDaily.com

Charlton
Heston, Defender of FreedomBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted April 9, 2008GUEST COLUMN – I began my working years
serving as an usher in my little home town’s theater and developed an
attachment to the make-believe world of movies that lasted well into
the 1970s.EdgefieldDaily.com

Is High
Court Poised to Disarm the Lawful?By
Carl Langleyweb
posted March 24, 2008GUEST COLUMN – The Supreme Court of the
United States is considering a lawsuit brought by a Washington, D.C.,
man and others who want to preserve the right to keep a handgun in
their homes for protection against the nation’s increasingly brazen
criminal element.EdgefieldDaily.com

Preacher
of Hate Doesn’t Have a ClueBy
Carl
Langleyweb
posted March 17, 2008GUEST COLUMN – Dr. Jeremiah Wright, the
raving lunatic who pastors a Chicago church, is about to do to Barack
Obama what Hillary Clinton has not been able to do: deliver a knockout
punch in the Democratic presidential primary.EdgefieldDaily.com

Small
Businesses Are the Lifeblood of CapitalismBy
Carl Langley
web
posted March 11, 2008GUEST COLUMN – Charles Wilson, a high
ranking cabinet official during the Eisenhower Administration of the
early 1950s, is famous more for one statement than any of his many
accomplishments in the private and public sectors of American life.EdgefieldDaily.com

Hey Jesse,
Al How about a Little Help?By
Carl Langley
web
posted February 4, 2008GUEST COLUMN – I read about a murder
recently which was a little hard for me to take, considering the youth
of the slaying victim. But an analysis of this tragedy about a young
man who made a shambles out of his life reveals he set the stage for
his own death by choosing his associates.EdgefieldDaily.com

Death
Takes a Cowardly Killer from the WorldBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted January 31, 2008GUEST COLUMN – The average American,
burdened by ignorance on matters of historical significance, will not
notice the death of a man a couple of days ago whose passage through
life meant the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children.
George Habash, the founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine, was 82 at the time of his death from pneumonia in a Jordan
hospital, which was 82 years more than this rat deserved to live.EdgefieldDaily.com

Remorseless
Killer’s
Lifeless
Hands
end a ManhuntBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted January 15, 2008GUEST COLUMN – In the end it was a pair of
hands floating in a jar of formaldehyde that brought to a conclusion
all the speculation about what had happened to a remorseless killer.EdgefieldDaily.com

The
Lunatic Fringe Will Buy AnythingBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted January 9, 2008GUEST COLUMN – Hillary Clinton’s main
campaign mantra is the need to bring universal health care to millions
of what she describes as the lost, the hopeless, the uninsured, the
ones whose birthdays are overlooked and the ones who didn‘t get a
single present at Christmas.EdgefieldDaily.com

Robbers
Are Victims of Price GougingBy: Carl
Langley
EdgefieldDaily.com Columnistweb
posted January 4, 2008GUEST COLUMN – It’s amazing what you can
stumble into while trying to ferret out some information. And that’s
especially true when you are working through the tangled web of a court
system.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Special
Christmas With Billy the KidBy:
Carl Langley
web
posted December 17, 2007GUEST COLUMN – Every growing boy should
enjoy the companionship of a goat. There is much to be learned in
keeping and caring for a goat. During this Christmas season I recall
the time my brother and I got our
own goat. On Christmas Eve of 1939 Billy joined our family. He was a
solid white goat about six months old.EdgefieldDaily.com

Life as a
Small Town Mayor Was InterestingEdgefieldDaily.com
Guest
ColumnistPart
4
of
a
4-part short story
web
posted December 10, 2007CARL LANGLEY – Being a small town mayor in
most places is not a very exciting job, so a mayor’s main job is
finding something interesting enough in town to grab and keep his
attention. You can only watch so many haircuts at the town’s one-chair
barber shop or watch so many oil changes and tire repairs at the corner
gas station before dullness sets in on a grand scale.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Gruesome
Killing Scars a Small TownEdgefieldDaily.com
Guest
ColumnistPart
3
of
a
4-part short story
web
posted December 4, 2007GUEST COLUMN – With Tim and his pal parked
in a state penal facility, it appeared that life would return to
normal, or what passed for normal in those days. But things were going
to get worse. Much worse. The little petty crimes that had been
inflicted on the town for several years turned into horror. A gruesome
killing changed the town forever, splitting families and turning
friends against friends.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Chatty
Girl Helps Spring the Jaws of JusticePart
2
of
a
4-part short storyBy:
Columnist Carl Langley
web
posted November 26, 2007GUEST COLUMN – With the threat of jail
removed by a judicial order, Tim loitered around town for several
weeks, always managing to elude the mayor’s watchful eye Meanwhile, the
mayor and several of his friends turned into night riders. He and his
buddies patrolled at night with axe handles, hoping to come across Tim
and his friends spray painting cars, overturning dumpsters, leaving
bags of feces on people’s porches and engaging themselves in other
civic pursuits.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Brave
Mayor Takes on the Criminal ElementPart
1
of
a
4-part short storyBy:
Columnist Carl Langley
web
posted November 19, 2007GUEST COLUMN – The sun was an hour away
from filtering through the large stand of pines along the side of the
street as the mayor wheeled his ramshackle Vega around the curve
leading to his home. The Vega, a piece of junk bought during the midst
of a divorce, wheezed and gasped at every stroke of a piston.EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted November 14, 2007GUEST COLUMN – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

Grandparents
Are
Special
Peopleweb
posted November 12, 2007GUEST COLUMN – Sitting on the worn stool,
I watched the old man’s tanned and leathery hands guide the heavy
crimping tool around the end of a piece of tin pipe. As the tool worked
along the edge the tin collapsed in a succession of tiny folds, alike
in length, width and depth. The three-foot sections of pipe were joined
and held tight by the fluted ends to make venting for wood stoves,
heaters and other fireboxes.EdgefieldDaily.com

Abuse
Mindset Seems a Twisted Dilemmaweb
posted November 5, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – The stepmother thought the three children were sneaking
snacks, therefore to punish them she beat them. She beat them with a
wooden stake, the type used to mark the corners of property boundaries,
before resorting to a belt after a warning from an Aiken County Family
Court judge.EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted October 30, 2007GUEST COLUMN – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted October 22, 2007GUEST COLUMN – The following is a weekly quiz compiled by
retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl Langley. It is
aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general knowledge. Take
the quiz and write down your answers to see how well you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Theory
on Global Warmingweb
posted October 12, 2007GUEST COLUMN – Now that Al Gore, an
assortment of nut cakes from academia and far-left scientists,
entertainment industry fruit loops and others have just about convinced
many of us that we are going to bake, it is time for some direct action
in this global warming business.EdgefieldDaily.com

Judge
Tunes Out Radio Station Owner, Former Talk Show Hostweb
posted October 8, 2007GUEST COLUMN – The owner of an Aiken radio
station and its former loudmouth talk show host have been given a
lesson in the American judicial system, and those who have followed
this miserable case for months should be pleased that these two losers
earned failing grades.EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted October 1, 2007CARL LANGLEY – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score. EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted September 24, 2007CARL LANGLEY – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score. EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted September 17, 2007CARL LANGLEY – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted September 10, 2007CARL LANGLEY – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted August 28, 2007CARL LANGLEY – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

Vick
Should Play, but for his Prison Teamweb
posted August 27, 2007GUEST COLUMN – The headline in the Augusta
Chronicle read, “NAACP
says Vick should play.”
I agree. EdgefieldDaily.com

So You
Think You Know Everything?web
posted August 21, 2007CARL LANGLEY – The following is a weekly
quiz compiled by retired newspaper reporter, editor and columnist Carl
Langley. It is aimed at expanding a reader’s word power and general
knowledge. Take the quiz and write down your answers to see how well
you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

The
lunatic fringe is at 10 percent and holdingweb
posted August 13, 2007GUEST COLUMN – One of the downsides of
living in a free society is that the more sane among us too often find
ourselves putting up with the crazies allowed to run free when they
should be bouncing off of walls covered with foam padding.EdgefieldDaily.com

So you
think you know everything?web
posted August 6, 2007CARL
LANGLEY – The following is a weekly quiz compiled by retired newspaper
reporter, editor and columnist Carl Langley. It is aimed at expanding a
reader’s word power and general knowledge. Take the quiz and write down
your answers to see how well you score.EdgefieldDaily.com

An Elderly
Senator Calls Out Dog FightersBy:
Carl Langley
EdegefieldDaily.com Guest Columnistweb
posted July 30, 2007GUEST COLUMN - West Virginia Sen. Robert
Byrd has filled me with pride for his fearless denunciation of the
thugs who operate pit bulldog fighting rings. “Barbarians,” cried Byrd
as he stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate
and lashed out at those he denounced for engaging in what most decent
people regard as a horrifying blood sport. Byrd, now in his late 80s
and a dog lover all his life, was unsparing
of his use of the words barbaric and barbarian. He repeated them over
and over, and I hope the thugs who support dog fighting were listening.EdgefieldDaily.com

The Late
Terry Haskins Spared Many from MiseryBy:
Carl Langley
EdgefieldDaily.com Guest Columnist
web posted July 24, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – There is joy in our land these days. Video poker, the beast
that at one time looked like it would not die, is on life support and
fading fast. Which means that the profiteers of this long-running
scandal, once sheltered by the Duke of Clarendon and his not-so Merry
Men in our state legislature, soon may have to find honest work.EdgefieldDaily.com

Blood
Sports Are an Evil Inheritanceweb
posted July 18, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – Cockfighting and dogfighting are the evil hand-me-downs from
ancient times, and despite laws prohibiting them in most of our states
they still flourish. I am animal lover, so each time I hear law
enforcement officers have
raided and broken up one of these horrid events I give a rousing cheer.
I long for the day when this despicable blood sport is purged forever,
but I fear it will take a dramatic change in some people‘s attitudes.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Dark
Cloud Falls Over My Old Home Townweb
posted July 10, 2007GUEST COLUMN – The Mafia, in all its
hideous glory, could have learned a thing or two about the crooks,
criminals and others who have run afoul of the law in my old home town.EdgefieldDaily.com

God bless
you, Duke Flannaganweb
posted July 2, 2007COLUMN – A few days ago I browsed through
my hometown newspaper and came upon an obituary notice that left me
stunned. It was a short piece about the death of a man I met many years
ago, the kind of person who attracted others as easily as a magnet
picks up iron filings.EdgefieldDaily.com

Rogue
Prosecutor Caught in His Own Webweb
posted June 22, 2007GUEST COLUMN – In the summer of 2006 there
was general agreement among anyone with half a brain that Durham
County. N.C., prosecutor Mike Nifong’s charges of rape, kidnap and
sexual assault against three Duke University lacrosse players
eventually would blow up in his face.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Hate
Crime is in the Eye of the Beholderweb
posted June 7, 2007GUEST COLUMN
– In the busy race-baiting worlds inhabited by Jesse Jackson and Al
Sharpton any unkind word spoken by a white person against a person of
color is a hate crime, and so are actions that are later found to be
false but whose revelations are greeted with silenceEdgefieldDaily.com

A Close Up
Look at One of Nature’s Miraclesweb
posted May 29, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – Several years ago on a Saturday morning my wife and I loaded
up some household throwaways and headed for one of Aiken County’s
recycling centers. We drove into the center, pulled up to a huge bin
and tossed away what
once had been treasured items. We got back in the station wagon and
started to pull away when my wife said, “Hold on a minute.”EdgefieldDaily.com

Court
sentencing recalls bad political timesweb
posted May 14, 2007GUEST COLUMN – In 1998 I was covering the
South Carolina political campaigns for the Aiken Standard newspaper,
and my focus was on the battle for governor between incumbent
Republican David Beasley and Democrat challenger Jim Hodges. EdgefieldDaily.com

Racial
Rabble Rouser Could Use a History Lessonweb
posted May 1, 2007GUEST
COLUMN
–
Al
Sharpton, the New York street
preacher, racial gadfly and proven outright liar, was able to gin up so
much verbal heat he cost a nationally syndicated radio talk show host
his job, but poor Al still can’t pass a 5th grade history test.EdgefieldDaily.comMichigan
legislators fleeing from realityweb
posted April 16, 2007
GUEST
COLUMN – The Detroit News is speaking out against what it calls an
“excess of idiocy,” and if ever a newspaper had it right this one does.EdgefieldDaily.com

Wanted
Now: A few Good Men to Lead Usweb
posted April 4, 2007
GUEST COLUMN – It’s a shame that this country and our motherland of
Great Britain no longer have people like Viscount Kitchener, Bomber
Harris, Chesty Puller and George Patton to help reinforce the
principles of a democratic society.EdgefieldDaily.com

Religion
can be directed only be reason and convictionweb
posted March 24, 2007
GUEST COLUMN – “Religion can be directed only by reason and conviction,
not by force or violence, and therefore all men are entitled to the
free exercise of religion.” - James Madison, fourth president of the
United States.EdgefieldDaily.com

Dogs, one
of God's wonderful giftsweb
posted March 12, 2007
GUEST COLUMN – They live in a world filled with boundless joy
that
comes from their love for the ones who care for them, and they are
privy to secrets that not even the greatest researchers have been able
to diagnosis with any great degree of confidence.EdgefieldDaily.com

A Veil of
Secrecy Protects the Worst of the Worstweb posted February 27, 2007
GUEST COLUMN – There are few crimes that rank on the loathsome scale
with murder and rape. But there is one, when ranked in the category of
moral depravity, that can equate with murder and rape.EdgefieldDaily.com

Where has
all the good music gone?web posted February 19, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – Johnny Mercer’s grandmother knew the infant she was holding in
her lap would someday be famous for his musical talents. The legend has
it that the doting grandmother told family members and friends that the
six-month-old baby she was rocking in Savannah in the early years of
the 1900s would begin humming a tune each time he heard a piano playing.EdgefieldDaily.com

A
starlet’s death exposes the empty minds of millionsweb posted February 13, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – web posted February 13, 2007
COLUMN – All she ever did was stand there, flashing a manufactured
smile, tossing her bleached blonde hair in come hither fashion and
mumbling the one-syllable words that exposed her intelligence - and all
the while looking as pretty as she could.EdgefieldDaily.com

Nation's
Slide in Education Is Picking up Speedweb posted February 5, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – For the second time in the last several months an
interesting e-mail has arrived at my desk, and this time it was passed
along to me by a friend who has long shared my fearful outlook on the
decline of American education.EdgefieldDaily.com

Duke
Lacrosse Non-Case Exposes Some Unsavory Businessweb posted January 29, 2007GUEST
COLUMN – A noted author once wrote that there is nothing more
dangerous than an outraged mother protecting her brood. Some time back
I watched CBS’ popular news magazine show “60 Minutes”
(one of my favorite viewing areas in a bleak television landscape) and
saw firsthand what the writer was talking about. The mothers of Duke
lacrosse players Collin Finnerty, David Evans and
Reade Seligman were being interviewed by CBS correspondent Leslie
Stahl, and what these mothers had to say should send shivers up the
spine of Durham, N.C., prosecutor Michael Nifong.EdgefieldDaily.com

One lucky
dogweb posted January 15, 2007GUEST
COLUMN - Lucky hobbled down the ramp leading up to his new home. With
his tail wagging briskly, a dog’s university sign of welcome, he was
eager to greet the guests arriving for dinner. On this sunny, warm
afternoon the big, friendly dog was well on his way to recovery from
wounds that could have killed him. Only a few weeks back his life was
slowly ebbing away because of two broken legs that had left him unable
to seek help.EdgefieldDaily.comThe state
of the nationweb posted January 15, 2007GUEST
COLUMN - A
couple of weeks back I wrote a piece chastising liberal college and
university professors for tainting the minds of young students whose
parents spend thousands upon thousands of dollars for the right for
their children to be taught by the mentally deranged.EdgefieldDaily.comGod save
the
USA!web posted January 8, 2007GUEST
COLUMN - My,
my, my. It seems I have put a gentleman named Alan White into a tizzy
and tied his undies into knots with my commentary about liberal college
professors running amok on some college campuses.EdgefieldDaily.com

Taking on
educationweb posted January 2, 2007GUEST COLUMN - By even the
most conservative of estimates it now costs American parents about
$25,000 a year to pay for the college education of a single child, and
you can add several thousand more for the incidentals. That’s a
burdensome investment in preparing one’s offspring for the future, so
any parent expects his or her student will receive an education that
lays a firm foundation to succeed in a highly competitive world. EdgefieldDaily.com

Quoting
realityweb posted December 26, 2006GUEST COLUMN - For many years
I have made a habit of jotting down some of the more memorable quotes
heard during the past year, and now I share with your readers some of
them with accompanying commentary.EdgefieldDaily.comThree rousing
cheers for
Goldman Sachs and free marketsweb posted December 21, 2006GUEST COLUMN - There’s
nothing like a success story, or hundreds of success stories,
to set our liberal scolds and complainers to weeping and wailing and
screaming their protests against the free enterprise system.EdgefieldDaily.comGoodbye Kofi,
And Don’t Come
Backweb
posted
December
18,
2006GUEST
COLUMN - The
good news for a
war-weary world is that the United Nations, a
long-time haven for some of the planet’s worst liars and thieves, will
soon be under new management.
At the top of the international pecking order of people who shun honest
work is South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon, who took the oath as new UN
secretary general last week and immediately vowed to change the
character of the world body.EdgefieldDaily.com

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